Albany heats up home ice

In home-opener, Devils puts on show

Pete Doughert, Times Union

By Pete Dougherty

Published 11:05 pm, Saturday, October 12, 2013

Albany Devils' #28 Dan Kelly takes a shot on goal during the Devil's home opener against the Utica Comets at the Times Union Center Saturday Oct. 12, 2013, in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Utica Comet's #19 Kellan Lain, left, is on the receiving end of a right hook from Albany Devils's #2Seth Helgeson during the Devil's home opener at the Times Union Center Saturday Oct. 12, 2013, in Albany, NY. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union)

Apparently the Albany Devils were more jacked for their home opener than the area's fans.

The Devils came out swinging Saturday night and took down the Utica Comets 3-2, the first time in their four seasons that they have opened their home schedule with a victory at Times Union Center.

A sparse crowd announced at 3,424, smallest for a home opener in Albany's 21-year American Hockey League history, turned out to see if the Devils could make good on their vow to be a better home team. They won only 13 of their 34 games last season at Times Union Center.

"We talked about it all week, being warriors at home and defending our home ice," said Joe Whitney, who scored what proved to be the game-winning goal with 12:35 to play. "It's good to get the first one out of the way and give us something to build on."

The previous smallest crowd for a home opener was 3,842 on Oct. 4, 1997, for an Albany River Rats meeting with Rochester. The two Albany franchises had averaged 5,995 for their home openers the past 20 seasons.

It was a strange game in that 66 penalty minutes — including six majors — were assessed in the first period, but none in the final 40 minutes.

"I haven't seen a game where there's been no penalties after the first," said Utica coach Travis Green, who began his playing career with the Troy-based Capital District Islanders in 1990. "There were four fights in the first and four minors called against our team, and no penalties after that."

"Guys are like caged animals," Devils coach Rick Kowalsky said. "This is what happens, two teams haven't had a game after two weeks of training camp. We had one game last weekend, and (Friday) was their (opener). We wanted to set the tone. We talked about that. They responded."

Whitney, a 5-foot-6 sparkplug who has led Albany in scoring the past two seasons, was in the middle of one scrum. He has more points (96) than penalty minutes (68) in his 139-game AHL career, but he took exception to a high stick from the Comets' Alex Biega.

Devils rookie defenseman Seth Helgeson came to Whitney's defense, dropping the gloves with Kellan Lain. Both received game misconducts for secondary altercations.

"He's still learning to do it a little bit," Kowalsky said, "but, you know, it's the home opener. I prefer not to go down to five D (defensemen) early, but kudos to him for doing that, and he had a pretty good fight."

The penalty-filled first period was scoreless, but Reid Boucher and Mike Sislo got Albany on the board in the second.

"It's something we talked about in training camp, that we want to be a home team," Gelinas said. "The past couple of years we struggled at home. That would be the points that we're missing for a playoff spot."

"We want to have a presence in here," Kowalsky said. "Those (fights) were just the result of guys playing hard and being in your face. The game was physical. Both teams skated. We had a little bit of everything we wanted. The fights, are we going to see that every night? No, but we made a bit of a statement that we're willing to do it."